Friday, January 27, 2012

Ok. First the good news: juju kicked butt again. All the tests they ran on my human's blood and pee came back totally normal. I wasn't allowed to to tell you this before because we didn't want to freak anyone out, but the stupid hand vet thought my human had something called Lupus. I don't really know what Lupus is and the HV didn't really explain it to my human either, but Google says it's not a great thing to have.

Normal = no scary Lupus.

Now, the not-so-good news. The magic prednisone didn't make my human's hand any better. Neither did the benedryl that put her into a coma for most of yesterday. Google is convinced it's an infection or something called cellulitis, so my human asked the HV for antibiotics. The HV said no because her white blood cells are happy andsaid the next step is IV prednisone, not antibiotics.

My human didn't like this plan. Especially since Google's doctors say you can totally have this cellulitis thing and still have happy white blood cells. But she couldn't get an appointment with a different vet until Monday, so last night she pulled a total MacGuyver and took medicine into her own, uh, hands.

She used the blue gloves that were supposed to make prednisone cream work better to make an overnight hand sauna filled with antibiotic goo. She also took some pills left over from my honking cough because Google's doctors says they're the exact same stuff real doctors give people with infected hands.

I'm probably not supposed to be telling you any of this because it totally makes my human sound like a nutjob, but the real life doctors weren't helping and she kinda needs her hand to shoot pugs tomorrow.My friend Tiffy's mom says desperate times call for desperate measures and I'm pretty sure that's why my human is acting like a crazy person.

After | Before

What's even crazier is my human's hand is more than halfway better now. Seriously. Her Nikon finger still isn't 100% happy, but it's way better than it was and other ones don't look like snausages anymore.She called the HV's office and told them pug drugs totally helped and asked if she could please have some antibiotics now.

They put her on hold for a long time, then gave her a special appointment with a Skin Vet today at 11:00. Will keep you posted....

* * * Skin Vet update * * *

My human says ginormous thanks for being so awesome and helpful and quick with the juju. Her visit with the Skin Vet went much MUCH better. This guy actually talked, looked at her hand a lot and only typed a tiny bit at the very end when it was time to order drugs. Lots of drugs.

The SV isn't 100% sure what the heck is going on with the hand, but he's mostly sure it's an allergic reaction (technical term: contact dermatitis) with the beginnings of an infection. He said the prednisone my human took wasn't enough to help a pug, so he gave her more of that. The cream the HV gave her was also the wrong kind, so now she has 2 creams.

My human was kinda afraid what the SV would say about her Google diagnosis & taking pug drugs, but he agreed with Google and said antibiotics are a good idea with this kind of thing because it can spread into your blood and really make things bad. He laughed (and kinda winced) about the pug drugs part, so now my human has her own antibiotic pills the size of China.

The SV told my human to rest, ice and glove-sauna her hand for the rest of the day, so she's pulling the plug on my thumb access. But I can still read, even without her stupid thumbs.

I'm so happy that you're human is getting back to normal! My mom told me she had the same issue BP (Before pugs). They thought she had Lupus too. I didn't want to say anything because it's not a fun thing to have. Anyway, my mom's doctors did all these tests and nothing either! She was on all these pills and still puffy (she had hers all over not just the thumbs). She'd be puffy for a few days then back to normal.

She thought she'd have to live with it, but she changed jobs (apparently she worked with not so smart people that yelled HBO words at her every day) and the puffy attacks went away!

Turns out that her puffies are "stress related" maybe your humans are the same way. I'm sure shooting 999 pugs that aren't 'Puglet' can be very stressful.

My mommy did say having cuddle sessions with me relieves some of her stress, but you're not coming to NJ until later this Spring/Summer - so I suggest giving your human some cuddles!

OOh Puglet, I'm a pharmacist and can't officially agree with your human, but my word is "strust" which I think is a short form for "trust yo'self). Glad she was able to figure out what was wrong and start to get better. And mostly that she was able to get the Hand Vet to take her seriously!

i totally don't think that's crazy. i woke up one day with a really swollen thumb and about a week later i was at the doctor and the swollen area broke and there was puss involved. they swabbed and i had a staph infection. i think i had a spider bite. they put me on antibiotics stat and never once even mentioned white blood cells (happy or not happy)...

Pug,I had cellultis on my hand once and it swelled up big and turned red and took several trips to the human vet, some super strong antibiotics and a shot of antibiotics in the backside to make my hand better. I bet the hand vet your human saw is just embarrased that he was outsmarted by GOOGLE.

Puglet!! Man, your human is so smart...don't think mine would've thought to do any of that stuff. So glad it worked and she seems to be better! Don't ya just love how the doctors don't know anything? It is so sad...glad we have Google!!!

What a story! Dr. MacGuyver is right! Hope the appointment today goes really well and someone figures this out (besides Google) to put an end to the red, puffiness once and for all! Do keep us posted. And like Noodles said, we'll keep the prayers coming just in case, and I'll also slip in one about bacon. For your sake Pug, I hope Scarlet's theory is right! Hehee!Love,Payton

Thank God it isn't lupus! That's what I was afraid of when I told you to see an immunologist doc yesterday!!!! So I'm glad the juju and the home treatments worked! I am usually a wait and see type of gal on the antibiotics, but when a hand is THAT swollen with no apparent reason, and the auto-immune tests come back normal...it might be time to see if a course of them can clear that up regardless of what the blood cell tests look like!!! just sayin'.... You really have to be your own advocate with docs sometimes, so never feel ashamed to question them! That is why it is called the PRACTICE of medicine!

Hilarious. I seriously love your human. So glad her macgyver invention worked. and maybe you WILL be lucky enough for her to start liking bacon after the pug drugs. I totall wish I had been in the room when she called the hv and told thm pug drugs helped. hahahahah!

Super glad the hand is almost back to normal!! Good thing you have a super friend like Google to help your human out in this kind of thing. Power to the paw for all the juju that the pugs sent!!I'm sure Noodles hat was the super juju that released all the power!!Paula from DE

Good thing, to rest the thumbs and hand. On another note, Puglet, have you heard about this dog Uggie? Apparently he's an actor and getting accolades for his performance. He's even nominated for two Golden Collar awards. And he won the Palm Dog award in Cannes Film Festival. Just wondering if that will ever be you! Here's to dogs everywhere!

YAY!! Very good news, thanks for the update! Pug, tell your human to rest up and do something fun with you and Dutch. She needs to de-stress and stay away from whatever the allergic thing is. Hope it's not food!Love,PaytonPS. My word was "subdoc"...funny...

my mom has to use clobetisol on her head cuz she's got something called psoriasis. its strong steroid stuff so hopefully puffy hand continues to depuff with the glove technique. prednisone is good if its an all over issue but i'm glad this new SV decided a cream would help more. its a more direct approach if it is contact dermatitis.

Great news Pug!!! Hope that with China size pills your Human will get her regular hand soon. Our moms also loves Dr Google and try to be Dr. macguyver (it was our Grannie favorite series haha) sometimes:) but she asks Dr Google first, then go to "real" Dr. Tell him what is the problem and what kind of medicine she needs. Her Dr isn't super happy with her and always gives her THAT look:) anyway it's great your Human feels better, and we wish you all super nice weekend!! Hugs PT

Thanks for update! Very happy to hear things are improving and will keep sending juju and checking your blog for updates. You and Dutch keep up with the lovin' and snuggles- almost as good as juju, steroids and pug drugs!!

Puglet,You've got one smart human there. Glad everything is going in the right direction...some extra hand juju going out to help her get to 100% that much faster.Be careful with the stress load. It can do some really nasty things to you (as my human knows all too well)!

WOW! So the "power of the pug" extends to their drugs as well. Geeesh .... what a wild, weird experience. Well we're still sending magic juju and puggle prayers to keep things moving in a positive direction for your Mom. Take care of her, dude. Roxi, Riley & LeaThose JSP's